Gears of War: Judgment to be Penned by Extra Lives Scribe Tom Bissell

Extra Lives writer Tom Bissell will be penning the script for the upcoming Gears of War: Judgment from Epic Games and People Can Fly.

Karen Traviss, who previously wrote Gears of War 3, will not be returning. Filling in her role will be Tom Bissell, and Rob Auten. Traviss', who had previously written numerous Star Wars novels, faced heavy criticism from fans and game developers alike for her writing in Gears 3.

Jeff Matulef of Eurogamer notes that Traviss admitted on her own blog that she does not like to read books. "I'm a writer who doesn't read novels," she wrote. "And not just because of time, or fear of ideas contamination, but because I just don't like doing it."

And it shows. With any luck, the new script by Bissell and Auten will be a lot better than anything Traviss might've had to offer. The two writers will be present at the San Diego Comic Con, where they'll be taking interviews along with Cliff Bleszinski and Baird's voice actor Fred Tatasciore.

In his book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, Bissell gave praise to the Gears of War setting, the chapter of which was written sometime after the release of the second game. [The aforementioned chapter can be read at The New Yorker.]